1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to electrosurgical instruments and, more particularly, to flexible endoscopic bipolar electrosurgical forceps for sealing and/or cutting tissue.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Electrosurgical forceps utilize both mechanical clamping action and electrical energy to affect hemostasis by heating the tissue and blood vessels to coagulate, cauterize and/or seal tissue. As an alternative to open forceps for use with open surgical procedures, many modern surgeons use endoscopes and endoscopic instruments for remotely accessing organs through smaller, puncture-like incisions. As a direct result thereof, patients tend to benefit from less scarring and reduced healing time.
Many surgical procedures may be completed through intra-luminal techniques, where a flexible endoscope is accessed through a puncture into a vascular branch or through one end of the gastrointestinal tract (e.g., the mouth or the rectum). These flexible endoscopes may contain lumens for purposes of irrigation, suction or passage or surgical instruments (e.g., snares, organ catheters, biopsy devices, etc.).
Many other surgical procedures utilize endoscopic instruments which are often inserted into the patient through a cannula, or port, which has been made with a trocar. Typical sizes for cannulas range from three millimeters to twelve millimeters. Smaller cannulas are usually preferred, which, as can be appreciated, ultimately presents a design challenge to instrument manufacturers who attempt to find ways to make endoscopic instruments that fit through the smaller cannulas.
Many endoscopic surgical procedures require cutting or ligating blood vessels or vascular tissue. Due to the inherent spatial considerations and accessibility of the indoluminal sight, surgeons often have difficulty suturing vessels or performing other traditional methods of controlling bleeding, e.g., clamping and/or tying-off transected blood vessels. By utilizing an endoscopic electrosurgical forceps, a surgeon can either cauterize, coagulate/desiccate and/or simply reduce or slow bleeding simply by controlling the intensity, frequency and duration of the electrosurgical energy applied through the jaw members to the tissue. Most small blood vessels, i.e., in the range below two millimeters in diameter, can often be closed using standard electrosurgical instruments and techniques. However, if a larger vessel is ligated, it may be necessary for the surgeon to convert the endoscopic procedure into an open-surgical procedure and thereby abandon the benefits of endoscopic surgery. Alternatively, the surgeon can seal the larger vessel or tissue.
It is thought that the process of coagulating vessels is fundamentally different than electrosurgical vessel sealing. For the purposes herein, “coagulation” is defined as a process of desiccating tissue wherein the tissue cells are ruptured and dried. “Vessel sealing” or “tissue sealing” is defined as the process of liquefying the collagen in the tissue so that it reforms into a fused mass. Coagulation of small vessels is sufficient to permanently close them, while larger vessels need to be sealed to assure permanent closure.
In order to effectively seal larger vessels (or tissue) two predominant mechanical parameters are accurately controlled—the pressure applied to the vessel (tissue) and the gap distance between the electrodes—both of which are affected by the thickness of the sealed vessel. More particularly, accurate application of pressure is important to oppose the walls of the vessel; to reduce the tissue impedance to a low enough value that allows enough electrosurgical energy through the tissue; to overcome the forces of expansion during tissue heating; and to contribute to the end tissue thickness which is an indication of a good seal. It has been determined that a typical fused vessel wall is optimum between 0.001 and 0.006 inches. Below this range, the seal may shred or tear and above this range the lumens may not be properly or effectively sealed.
With respect to smaller vessels, the pressure applied to the tissue tends to become less relevant whereas the gap distance between the electrically conductive surfaces becomes more significant for effective sealing. In other words, the chances of the two electrically conductive surfaces touching during activation increases as vessels become smaller.
As mentioned above, in order to properly and effectively seal larger vessels or tissue, a greater closure force between opposing jaw members is required. It is known that a large closure force between the jaws typically requires a large moment about the pivot for each jaw. This presents a design challenge because the jaw members are typically affixed with pins which are positioned to have small moment arms with respect to the pivot of each jaw member. A large force, coupled with a small moment arm, is undesirable because the large forces may shear the pins. As a result, designers compensate for these large closure forces by either designing instruments with metal pins and/or by designing instruments which at least partially offload these closure forces to reduce the chances of mechanical failure. As can be appreciated, if metal pivot pins are employed, the metal pins should be insulated to avoid the pin acting as an alternate current path between the jaw members which may prove detrimental to effective sealing.
Increasing the closure forces between electrodes may have other undesirable effects, e.g., it may cause the opposing electrodes to come into close contact with one another which may result in a short circuit and a small closure force may cause pre-mature movement of the tissue during compression and prior to activation. As a result thereof, providing an instrument which consistently provides the appropriate closure force between opposing electrode within a preferred pressure range will enhance the chances of a successful seal. As can be appreciated, relying on a surgeon to manually provide the appropriate closure force within the appropriate range on a consistent basis would be difficult and the resultant effectiveness and quality of the seal may vary. Moreover, the overall success of creating an effective tissue seal is greatly reliant upon the user's expertise, vision, dexterity, and experience in judging the appropriate closure force to uniformly, consistently and effectively seal the vessel. In other words, the success of the seal would greatly depend upon the ultimate skill of the surgeon rather than the efficiency of the instrument.
It has been found that the pressure range for assuring a consistent and effective seal is between about 3 kg/cm2 to about 16 kg/cm2 and, desirably, within a working range of 7 kg/cm2 to 13 kg/cm2. Manufacturing an instrument which is capable of providing a closure pressure within this working range has been shown to be effective for sealing arteries, tissues and other vascular bundles.
Various force-actuating assemblies have been developed in the past for providing the appropriate closure forces to affect vessel sealing. For example, one such actuating assembly has been developed by Valleylab, Inc. of Boulder, Colo., a division of Tyco Healthcare LP, for use with Valleylab's vessel sealing and dividing instrument commonly sold under the trademark LIGASURE ATLAS®. This assembly includes a four-bar mechanical linkage, a spring and a drive assembly which cooperate to consistently provide and maintain tissue pressures within the above working ranges. The LIGASURE ATLAS® is presently designed to fit through a 10 mm cannula and includes a bilateral jaw closure mechanism which is activated by a foot switch. A trigger assembly extends a knife distally to separate the tissue along the tissue seal. A rotating mechanism is associated with distal end of the handle to allow a surgeon to selectively rotate the jaw members to facilitate grasping tissue. Co-pending U.S. application Ser. Nos. 10/179,863 and 10/116,944 and PCT Application Serial Nos. PCT/US01/01890 and PCT/7201/11340 describe in detail the operating features of the LIGASURE ATLAS® and various methods relating thereto. The contents of all of these applications are hereby incorporated by reference herein.
Electrosurgical snares are used in endoscopic electrosurgical procedures of the removal of intestinal polyps and the like. Electrosurgical snares are predominantly monopolar, are used typically without any feedback to the electrosurgical generator, and typically lack control over the amount of cauterization of tissue. During a poly removal procedure, power applied to a stem of the polyp must be carried away through the wall of the underlying tissue (i.e., intestinal wall or other body lumen).
It would be desirous to develop an endoscopic vessel sealing instrument which reduces the overall amount of mechanical force necessary to close the jaw members and to clamp tissue therebetween. It would also be desirous for the instrument to provide a variable-ratio mechanical advantage for manipulating the jaw members and clamping tissue, such that, for example, the jaw members can be closed on tissue, easier, quicker and with less user force than previously envisioned to clamp the tissue.
Additionally, it would be desirous for the instrument to include a blade for cutting tissue following electrosurgical sealing.
Additionally, it would be desirous for the instrument to be a bipolar instrument capable of reducing or limiting the effect to tissue captured between the jaw members.
Additionally, one must consider the ability to manipulate the position of the surgical end effector. Controls are available to bend the flexible endoscope to position the view angle and the ports relative to the surgical target. It is then additionally desirable to manipulate the surgical effector within the view field of the endoscope. This may be accomplished by any number of means, such as, for example, pull wires, thermally active memory wire, or micro-machines.